Camden NJ—US America
Sept: 30 '91
Dear Ed:
Y'rs of 26th1 has come, & I am glad to get word f'm you after such
an interval—Don't wait so long again & you yourself will always be
welcome whatever happens—I still hold out here, but a peg dropping out
lower every month, & before long will be dropt out for good—hardly get
out at all in the wheel chair,2 or any other way—not once
in a month—In
other respects somewhat the same—eat my two meals every day—(an egg
& bread & coffee for b'kfast & four or five oysters for supper
yesterday)—has been a hot season here, but clear & cool
to-day—every thing & folks
here much the same—Mrs. D[avis]3 and Warry4 and
Harry5 well—Mrs.
Mapes6 out in Atchison Kansas—Mrs. Doughty &
Maggie7 well—Warry
still my nurse & satisfactory—Horace Traubel8
married9 & well—faithful
as ever—So good bye for present & God bless you, dear son—
Walt Whitman
Correspondent:
Edward "Ned" Wilkins
(1865–1936) was one of Whitman's nurses during his Camden years; he was
sent to Camden from London, Ontario, by Dr. Richard M. Bucke, and he began
caring for Whitman on November 5, 1888. He stayed for a year before returning to
Canada to attend the Ontario Veterinary School. Wilkins graduated on March 24,
1893, and then he returned to the United States to commence his practice in
Alexandria, Indiana. For more information, see Bert A. Thompson, "Edward
Wilkins: Male Nurse to Walt Whitman," Walt Whitman Review
15 (September 1969), 194–195.
Notes
- 1. See Wilkins's letter to
Whitman of September 26, 1891. [back]
- 2. Horace Traubel and Ed
Wilkins, Whitman's nurse, went to Philadelphia to purchase a wheeled chair for
the poet that would allow him to be "pull'd or push'd" outdoors. See Whitman's
letter to William Sloane Kennedy of May 8,
1889. [back]
- 3. Mary Oakes Davis (1837 or
1838–1908) was Whitman's housekeeper. For more, see Carol J. Singley,
"Davis, Mary Oakes (1837 or 1838–1908)," Walt
Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New
York: Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]
- 4. Frank Warren Fritzinger
(1867–1899), known as "Warry," took Edward Wilkins's place as Whitman's
nurse, beginning in October 1889. Fritzinger and his brother Harry were the sons
of Henry Whireman Fritzinger (about 1828–1881), a former sea captain who
went blind, and Almira E. Fritzinger. Following Henry Sr.'s death, Warren and
his brother—having lost both parents—became wards of Mary O. Davis,
Whitman's housekeeper, who had also taken care of the sea captain and who
inherited part of his estate. A picture of Warry is displayed in the May 1891
New England Magazine (278). See Joann P. Krieg, "Fritzinger, Frederick Warren (1866–1899),"
Walt Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and
Donald D. Kummings (New York: Garland Publishing, 1998), 240. [back]
- 5. Harry Fritzinger (about
1866–?) was the brother of Warren Fritzinger, who would serve as Whitman's
nurse beginning in October 1889. Harry worked as an office boy in Camden when he
was fourteen. He also worked as a sailor. Later, he became a railroad conductor.
Mary Davis, Whitman's housekeeper, took care of both Harry and Warren after the
death of their father, the sea captain Henry W. Fritzinger. Davis had looked
after Capt. Fritzinger, who went blind, before she started to perform the same
housekeeping services for Whitman. Harry married Rebecca Heisler on September
15, 1890. [back]
- 6. Mary E. Mapes was a neighbor friend
of Mary Davis and sometimes took care of Whitman's house when Mrs. Davis was
away. [back]
- 7. Mrs. Doughty and her
daughter(?) Maggie took Mrs. Mary Davis' place while Davis traveled to Kansas
for two weeks in 1890 (Whitman's Commonplace Book, Charles E. Feinberg
Collection of the Papers of Walt Whitman, 1839–1919, Library of Congress,
Washington, D.C.). [back]
- 8. Horace L. Traubel (1858–1919)
was an American essayist, poet, and magazine publisher. He is best remembered as
the literary executor, biographer, and self-fashioned "spirit child" of Walt
Whitman. During the late 1880s and until Whitman's death in 1892, Traubel visited
the poet virtually every day and took thorough notes of their conversations,
which he later transcribed and published in three large volumes entitled With Walt Whitman in Camden (1906, 1908, & 1914).
After his death, Traubel left behind enough manuscripts for six more volumes of
the series, the final two of which were published in 1996. For more on Traubel,
see Ed Folsom, "Traubel, Horace L. [1858–1919]," Walt
Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New
York: Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]
- 9. Horace Traubel married
Anne Montgomerie on May 28, 1891 (Whitman's Commonplace Book, Charles E.
Feinberg Collection of the Papers of Walt Whitman, 1839–1919, Library of
Congress, Washington, D.C.). After Whitman's birthday celebration on May 31, the
couple went to Canada with Richard Maurice Bucke, physician at the Insane Asylum
in London, Ontario, and returned to Camden on June 14, 1891. [back]